Pitch or Ditch for Tuesday, August 3

Pitch
or Ditch is a strategy for (ideally) daily mixed leagues in which you
pick up
starters on a day-to-day basis based on how well they are pitching and
their
upcoming matchups, then cut them in favor of new guys the next guy. The
concept
is that the shallower the league, the more quality starting pitching is
available on the free agent wire, so rather than drafting expensive
starters,
it’s better to build a strong offense and bullpen and let the free agent
wire
populate your starting staff during the season. As a bonus, a handful of
“PoD”
guys emerge each year as worth keeping all year long, like Jair Jurrjens
last
year or Cliff Lee in ’08.__________________________________________________________________________________PoD
chart July 23.pdf

I have 164 stolen bases on the year – 33 more than 2nd place. Everyone is making offers on Crawford, but none have been appetizing enough. I received one today, an it’s the most reasonable thus far – should I take it or counter?

I?m in a 10 team 6 (OBP) x 7 (batting average against, holds) head to head 9 keeper league. At this point in the season would you drop Wieters for Olivo? Wieters isn?t likely to be a keeper on my team as I?ve got Youkilis, Wright, Pedroia, Tulowitzki, Utley, Kemp, Holliday, Ellsbury, Rollins, and Lester (to name a few). Once everyone?s healthy my only real weakness on offense is catcher. What do you think? Thanks, Damon in Seattle

I really low on HR and jsut put Silva a the DL opening up a free spot. Which 1 of these can i epect the most from; Johnny Gomes, Ike Davis, Seth Smith, Tyler Colvin, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Ty Wigginton, or any1 esle owned in only a few leagues? By the way the show needs on more i really help.

I really low on HR and jsut put Silva a the DL opening up a free spot. Which 1 of these can i epect the most from; Johnny Gomes, Ike Davis, Seth Smith, Tyler Colvin, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Ty Wigginton, or any1 esle owned in only a few leagues? By the way the show needs on more i really help.

Hey guys, please give me some advice as you can tell I have a very very tough decision to make. I’m in a 6 x 6 head to head league, now both my second baseman are on the DL and probably won’t return in 2 weeks… Should I play through this or make some pitching for hitting change? I’m currently in first place with only 3 games lead, and this lead could all be gone soon since my hitting staff is in a slump. Please advice and I do really appreciate it!

Whazzup guys…13 team DEEP (10 man) benches, 5×5 mixed, I had Rauch, he’s now useless (for my team). I have big leads in WHIP and ERA, 2nd in saves (2 saves ahead of 3rd, 20 saves ahead of 4th). I need K’s…keep getting to within about 20 of the guy ahead of me, but then I go a couple days with just one or two starts, and fall back to about 40 behind. Also only 4 points in wins, 3 wins behind next team, 10 wins behind team after that. Absolutely NO starters worth considering on the wire…Pelfrey and Millwood top SP strikeouts on the wire. Should I go with a middle reliever like, say, Sean Marshall, Joaquin Benoit, or Edwin Mujica? They all have good to great K/BB and K/IP, won’t hurt WHIP or ERA. If so, please rank those 3. Or should I risk my lead in rate categories and (GASP!!!) chase wins???? Or is it too early for that yet? I’m 2nd overall, 5 points out of first, but have been right about there for a few months now…feel like I’m spinning my wheels. HELP!!!!

Hey Guys,
I made a couple of trades over the weekend in my 12 team mixed points league.
I trade away Tulo, Lidge, Panda, BJ Upton and got Votto, Cuddyer and Desmond. I currently have 4 closers and did really need Lidge. I then traded King Felix, Jamie Garcia, Mark Reynolds, and Simon and got Big Erv, Oswalt, Aaron Hill, and Thorton. Kinsler was my 2B and I needed one. I also traded Kinsler for Beckham and Hanrahan. Cuddyer qualifies at OF, 1B, 3B for our league. I have Desmond and Aybar at SS. OF consist of Justin Upton, Car-go, Bruce, Gardner and Cuddyer. So what do you think of the trades?
Girth

Factoring in playing time uncertainties, my ranking would be Tejada, Wallace, Podsednik, Westbrook, Morrison, Brown, Hudson.
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wok off homer,

I don’t think you’re getting enough value in return for Crawford. If your major need is power, why not simplify things and offer something like Crawford and perhaps a throw-in for Pujols or M-Cab? I think that would make more sense.
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Damon,

Yeah, sure. Take away the keeper factor and it’s as simple as this: Olivo is producing while Wieters isn’t. At this point in the season, results is what matters the most.
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John,

I’ll say Colvin as he has the lowest AB/HR ratio and is now playing every day.
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xrqzyy,

Sit tight. You’ve got an absolutely loaded team that’s very balanced. No need to be too concerned. You should be able to find an adequate 2B off the wire to hold down the fort until your regulars return.

First, see if you can trade one of your low ERA/WHIP but low K SPs for a high K SP. I think that would be the easiest way to gain a few points. If that’s not possible, I’d slightly prefer the middle reliever strategy over the chasing wins approach. I’d rank those RPs Benoit, Marshall, Mujica, but they’re all very solid options.
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Girth,

Hate to say it but I don’t like any of those deals. The first one is reasonable as Votto is the best player in the trade, but I still think you gave up too much. I value BJ more than Cuddyer due to his consistently high SB contribution, but let’s for arguments sake call that tradeoff a wash. I think you could’ve done better than Votto and Desmond for Tulo, Lidge and Panda.

Felix and Garcia for Erv and Oswalt is fine, but then it becomes Reynolds and Simon for Hill (who has still yet to snap out of his season-long funk) and Thornton. Simon will likely pick up at least a few more saves before Mike Gonzalez eventually takes over ninth inning duties (whenever that may be) while Reynolds, as much as we like to criticize him for his low AVG, will always hit for tons of power.

Despite Kinsler’s health status, an inconsistent 2B with some upside plus a reliever who may or may not close is just not sufficient value for an elite level player.
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xanderayash,

If you can afford the hit in starting pitching, that sounds like a fine deal.

In a league of 12 or more teams, I wouldn’t cut Lackey or Burnett just yet but rather keep them reserved and hope that they become more consistent. I’m willing to give them another couple of weeks to straighten out.

Meta

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